The National Film Centre of Latvia has announced the beneficiaries of its 2021 co-financing programme. In total, the body is investing €1,158,013 in six new fiction features. The aim of the programme is to support the production of foreign films in Latvia, bringing international financing to the local film industry.

The project in receipt of the grant of the biggest magnitude (€650,000) is Sven Bohse’s Sisi, staged by Cinevilla Films and German studio Story House Pictures. Alongside Sisi, two other Cinevilla productions have received backing – namely, Andrejs Ēķis’s Swingers (€30,000, co-produced with Dutch firm 2CFILM BV) and Sigrun Laste’s Mauerbau’61 (€43,000, also co-produced with Story House Pictures).

The second-largest amount was bestowed upon Dmitrij Fiks’s The Jew (€259,092), co-produced by Ego Media and Russia’s Motor Film Studio. The Riga-based outfit also received a smaller grant for Peter Anthony’s Escobar of the North. Part Two (€50,159), co-produced with Denmark’s Monday Productions. Finally, Jenni Toivoniemi received a bursary (€125,761) for her project Eva’s Call, co-produced by Latvia’s White Picture and Finnish outfit Tuffi Films.